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Two studies were conducted to determine the effect and the feasibility of infusing an aqueous solution containing phosphates, glucose, sodium and potassium chlorides, and calcium carbonate into hot-boned pork muscle to produce a precooked, low sodium, convenience-type pork entree. The first study showed the infusion of 4% glucose, 4% sodium, 3% sodium chloride and 2% potassium chloride (GNPK) tenderized the hot-boned (HB) semimembranosus muscle cooked 2 h postmortem. Adding calcium carbonate to the GNPK solution increased the calcium content of treated muscle but had no tenderization effect on the hot-boned muscle. The results from the second study showed pork loins treated with the GNPK solution were lower in Hunter color measurements than the chops infused with distilled water (DW) or the control (NO). HB-GNPK was lowest in Hunter L, a, b values and cooking losses among the groups. SDS-PAGE electrophoretograms showed that the 30,000 dalton component, a consistent indicator of tenderness of muscle, appeared in HB-GNPK and all the CB treatments but did not appear in HB-DW or HB-NO muscles. Electron microscopy showed that the Z-lines of sarcomeres of muscles treated with GNPK were degraded, which should have made them more tender. Sensory panel rating and Warner-Bratzler shear force showed that the HB- and cold-boned (CB)-GNPK infused roasts were about 3 0% more tender than the CB-DW and CB-NO groups; they were about 43% more tender than the HB-DW and HB-NO roasts. GNPK infused groups also were rated higher in juiciness, flavor intensity and salt intensity than DW or NO groups. The HP-GNPK group contained more fat and less protein than the CB groups. Both CB- and HB-GNPK chops were rated more tender, juicier and more desirable than the other chops. CB-DW and CB-NO groups were rated not different from each other but more tender, juicier and more desirable than the HB-NO and HB-DW chops. Most (> 92.5%) consumers who evaluated the CB- or HB-GNPK chops would purchase the product if available. This study showed that the increased tenderness of HB-GNPK muscle may be due to the accelerated degradation of myofibrillar proteins and that it is feasible to infuse HB pork muscle with glucose, NaCl, pyrophosphates and KCl to produce a hot-boned, precooked, low salt, microwave ready, convenience-type pork product that is superior to the cold-boned products and accepted by consumers. more...

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The study focuses on local food specialties in Lukang, Taiwan. The town of Lukang offers many local food specialties featuring an abundance of seafood and teacakes. Restaurants, snack bars, street vendors, and cake shops provide tourists and locals a diverse purchasing and dining experience. Limited consumer behavior information is available with regard to the purchase and consumption of local food specialties. Research-based studies are needed to obtain tourists‘ and locals‘ perceptions about Lukang‘s food and how they make their food selection decisions. The first phase of this study sought to examine perspectives of local public officials, historians, and shop owners toward the town‘s food specialties and food tourism. Six participants were selected through snowball sampling. In-depth open-ended interviews were conducted and videotaped in June and July, 2009. The second phase of this study sought to discover how tourists and local residents decide on the food they select at cake shops and snack bars. The Means-End Chain theory was adopted because it can explain ―how product attributes facilitate consumers‘ achievement of desired end-states of being (or values).‖ The laddering interview technique is used to explore the underlying motives and needs of consumers. Laddering interviews were carried out in July and December, 2009 with 18 tourists and 24 local residents through convenience sampling. The in-depth personal interviews with local public officials, historians, and shop owners (n=6) indicated that local food has a positive impact on the overall tourist experience and indeed is important to tourism development in Lukang, Taiwan. It appeared that the concept of authenticity could be applied to local food; especially with regard to teacakes. The findings of the Means-End Laddering interviews revealed consumers‘ (n=42) perceptions about selection of local food specialties. At the attribute level, ―well-established brand,‖ ―authenticity,‖ ―taste,‖ ―healthful food,‖ ―hygiene/cleanliness,‖ ―popularity,‖ ―product variety,‖ and ―freshness‖ were the factors most often mentioned. These attributes linked to the consequences ―enjoy eating food,‖ ―thoughtful gift-giving,‖ ―worry free,‖ ―try something new,‖ ―quality guaranteed,‖ ―save money,‖ ―more options,‖ ―physical well-being,‖ and ―desire to purchase.‖ ―Enjoyment,‖ ―health/safety,‖ ―good relationships with others,‖ ―novelty,‖ and ―nostalgia‖ were the personal values most often identified. The findings suggest that local food selection behavior between tourists and local residents differ particularly with regard to teacake purchasing behavior. The findings of this study provide insights that can benefit local tourism development by focusing on Lukang‘s food specialties. more...

This study explored the theory that visitors¡¦ use many communication sources to make traveling and attraction arrangements of heritage destinations. Two specific objectives include (1) to verify the theory that Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) can affect visitor¡¦s decision-making in selecting heritage destinations; and (2) to examine the factors that affect visitor¡¦s revisit intentions. A self-reported survey was conducted in a popular heritage destination, Lukang, Taiwan, in spring 2007. The main portion of the questionnaire includes 60 items that inquire visitors¡¦ visiting experience, destination image, destination attributes, and communication channels that affect their decision-making. One hundred and ninety-seven (197) usable questionnaires were collected. The results showed the major reason for them to travel to the destination was to experience the rich heritage at the destination. Other purposes of visiting included recreation, religion, personal experience of the destination, and the environmental attributed of the destination. Regarding channel of communication that affected their decision, friends/relatives word-of-the-mouth was rated to have highest influence, followed by TV travel programs, TV travel news, printed travel news, and information on festival activities, respectively. A Multiple Regression test was conducted to establish a prediction model for the intention to revisit the Township (DV). The Recreation, Religion, Personal Internal experience on the Township, and the Attributes of the Township positively affect participants¡¦ intention while the Direct Sales and Promotion negatively influence the decision to revisit the Township. The Coefficient of Determination (R2) shows that 33% of the variations (R2=0.33) can be explained by this model. more...

This study was conducted to investigate the teaching style of university faculty who teach courses in Family and Consumer Sciences teacher education programs in Texas and to determine how those teaching styles might be related to computer use in the college classroom. Standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship to computer use in the classroom as measured by variables that included university faculty members’ preferences in instructional planning, teaching methods, student groupings, classroom design, instructional environment, evaluation techniques, teaching characteristics and classroom management, and educational philosophy. Related issues, such as university faculty’s perceived use of computers in instructional delivery, years of computer experience, numbers of attended computer related learning activities, types of access for computer use, attitudes toward computer-based instruction, and perceived level of computer and technology skills were also explored with regard to classroom computer use at the university/college level. Seventy-four faculty members in ten universities in Texas that were identified as providing Family and Consumer Sciences teacher certification programs participated in the study. University faculty members’ preferred teaching styles and use of the computers were determined to test the null hypothesis of this study. Results indicated that one teaching style variable, evaluation techniques, was found to have a relationship to computer use in the classroom. No differences were found between classroom computer use and university faculty’s years of experience using computers or number of attended computer related learning activities. The current study did show that type of access to computers influenced faculty use in the classroom. University faculty who taught in computer labs showed a higher level of computer use than did those with other types of computer access. Likewise, the study found increased classroom computer use among those faculty members who perceived their level of computer and technology skills to be above average. Overall, university faculty members rated their attitudes toward computer-based instruction as supportive, yet identified factors that they perceived as barriers to increasing computer use in the classroom. Specifically, these barriers included availability of up-to-date hardware and software, the need for computers and related technology to be permanently located in the classroom, and the lack of continuing professional development in how to integrate technology into the curriculum. more...

Satisfying customers' demands for good food at the lowest possible cost has always been the major challenge faced by the foodservice industry. In efforts to cope with this challenge, the industry has utilized the latest techniques of product development, including ingredient formats, sensory evaluation, and cost control. This has been especially true in the effort to meet customers' demands for a dessert using such fruits as cantaloupe. Individual Americans consume an average of 11 pounds of cantaloupe each year, mainly as fresh fruit during the five-month growing period, June to November. Transforming cantaloupe into sorbet would enable consumers to enjoy the freshness and flavor of cantaloupe at any time. To meet this goal, the following objectives were defined: 1) to determine an appropriate thickening agent for the sorbet; 2) to establish a cost reduction method for a restaurant offering cantaloupe sorbet as a dessert or a palate cleanser and apply value analysis techniques to the product; and 3) to determine convenient methods for producing cantaloupe sorbet in a restaurant and the shelf life of cantaloupe puree. If cantaloupe were transformed into a flavorful, relatively cheap sorbet, consumers would be able to enjoy a desirable dessert year round. In the first experiment performed by trained panelists, sorbets containing 0.05% of xanthan gum received a higher overall quality rating then substances used in other cantaloupe sorbets. The second experiment revealed that both trained and consumer panelists agreed that sorbet made from frozen cantaloupe puree was considered as desirable as that produced from fresh cantaloupe. In addition, consumer panelists indicated that 42.3% of customers would be willing to spend $2.00 to $2.99 in a restaurant to order cantaloupe sorbet as a dessert item. Value analysis results indicated, moreover, that frozen cantaloupe puree was an excellent choice for use in producing sorbet, with the added incentives of reducing working time, labor cost, and waste. The third experiment revealed that no difference was discernible between cantaloupe purees with and without sugar syrup, but the color intensity was affected by length of the storage period. Therefore, it was apparent that cantaloupe puree with sugar syrup was the better ingredient for producing cantaloupe sorbet in the restaurant during the off-season. more...

The purposes of this study were to (a) establish conceivable indexes for professional competencies of heritage interpreters, (b) evaluate the existing training curriculum of heritage interpreters, and (c) examine the impacts of interpretation services on tourists¡¦ satisfaction at a tourist destination. Based on these specific objectives, three distinct studies were conducted. The first study aimed to identify interpreters¡¦ competencies through a self-reported survey obtained from the groups of heritage interpreters, hospitality educator, students, and tourists at the heritage sites. The second study summarized the opinions of interpreters and hospitality educators concerning an active interpretation-training curriculum. The third study examined the differences in satisfaction levels regarding tourists who received interpretation services (personal and nonpersonal interpretation services) at a popular tourist destination in Taiwan. Major findings include: (a) ¡§work attitude¡¨, ¡§basic employability skills¡¨, ¡§theories of interpretation education¡¨, ¡§field work of interpretation knowledge¡¨, ¡§preparation and planning of interpretation¡¨, ¡§skills and training of interpretation¡¨, ¡§research ability¡¨, and ¡§handling emergency situation¡¨ were recognized as the important competency categories for a competent heritage interpreter, (b) training courses identified by heritage interpreters and hospitality educators could be categorized into the following categories: professional knowledge, interpretation techniques, related regulations, safety and emergency handling, on-site training, and (c) tourists had positive responses to both personal and non-personal interpretive services; however, as the availability of the personal interpretive services were limited, tourists selected non-personal interpretive services while they visited the site to obtain the information. The findings of the studies may contribute to interpreters¡¦ training and to the tourism industry in general. The outcomes of the study identified competencies that would serve as the basis toward developing an effective interpretation training curriculum that can improve heritage interpreters¡¦ training in Taiwan. In addition, the findings may motivate interpreters to seek professional development opportunities in the future. Tourists would benefit from the quality interpretation services offered by the interpreters who have received competency-based training programs derivate from this study. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research directions were included. more...